kill enhancement is more im- portant than ever before for individuals, employers, educational institutions, elected officials and others in St. Joseph County and throughout northern Indiana as the region charts a course to confront unprecedented structural changes fueled by globalization, futurist Ed Barlow says. "The future of workforce competi- tiveness is more about skill en- hancing than it is degree ac- quisition. Let me say that again. And the employers [in the room] are nodding," Barlow explains Nov. 13, 2007, at the College Football Hall of Fame, South Bend. Defense industry giant Lockheed Martin Corp. "is hiring folks in Maryland with skill certificates before they hire people with degrees," he notes. "I'm all in favor of a degree," Barlow says, "don't get me wrong, but if it isn't conjoined with skills — it doesn't work." Americans will elect a new presi- dent in 2008, and by the second year of the new chief executive's term in 2010, technical information will double every 72 hours and the Internet will double in size every 120 days, Barlow explains in de- scribing two of many structural changes underway that collectively will impact workplaces and eco- nomic activity in northern Indiana. In light of such huge expansions in information relevant to employ- ment, how can people and com- munities adapt to such changes?

SPEED LEARNING IS AMONG BEST WAYS To Cope with Global Structural Changes Speed learning is one of the best ways to cope with structural changes, notes Barlow, president of St. Joseph, Mich.-based Creating the Future, Inc. Traveling the world to deliver 120 speaking engagements annually, he adds, "Now, China is educating its high school students in what they call 'fast reading.' They get it; we don't." Computer-based programs for speed learning should be used in all K-through-12 educational institutions across the United States, suggests Barlow, who holds a master's degree in management from the University of Notre Dame. He became a futurist upon realizing traditional business tactics were ineffective when dealing with large-scale, global changes. Related to speed reading, speed learning is a toolbox of learning methods that seek to attain higher rates of learning without an unac- ceptable reducation of compre- hension or retention. Beyond reading, the additional learning methods are obser- vation, listening, conversation and reflection. WorkOne Northern Indiana and the Northern Indiana Workforce Board, Inc., which oversees the regional WorkOne System, sponsored Barlow's presentation. The board views his core message — that ongoing structural changes will require individuals and communities to adapt and learn continuously — as carrying paramount importance for northern Indiana. To help meet the challenges of preparing an effective workforce, the board has hired Barlow to speak to audiences from each county of WorkOne Northern Indiana's service area (Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall and St. Joseph counties, constituting Indiana's Economic Growth Region 2).

As the amount of online informa- tion accelerates and broadband transfer rates skyrocket, regions throughout the United States, including northern Indiana, should be concerned that U.S. broadband penetration has fallen behind Finland, Estonia and Luxembourg, Barlow observes. "What is your strategy for linking every home and business with, minimally, T-1 lines, but in the future with micro- fiber technology that's going to be available. That should be a major community strategy. Anywhere in this community," he says, "I should be able to open my com- puter and have Wi-MAX available. You've got to be wired, folks; you've got to be connected." In 2008, Wi-Fi is the most common wireless technology to connect to the Internet; therefore, Wi-MAX will improve upon Wi-Fi as data-transfer technology by covering longer distances and using various methods to connect online. Wi-MAX "is going to replace Wi-Fi," Barlow predicts, "it spreads further and wider; it's more compatible with different modal- ities." Also in the future, when individuals work, as well as when they relax, they will increasingly rely on advanced cell phones, such as Apple Computer's iPhone or the GooglePhone. "In the future, I will carry a cell phone-deluxe. I will pay my bills; I will download a podcast of my professor's lecture," Barlow states. "I'll have a keyboard that appears in mid-air, holographic. I won't need to type on a small keyboard. Google will store my large data file; I'll access it with this device. It'll monitor my body conditions. It'll do everything ... earn and learn. It's a converging technology; it'll be used in the workplace to communicate with folks on different projects." At the end of the day, he adds, these devices will be an integrated way for people to do business.

For kindergarteners in northern Indiana schools in 2008, eight of every 10 of these children, at some future point, will work in a job that doesn't exist today. On average, a kindergartener will experience four different careers and nine different jobs — each requiring that individual to acquire "significant new knowledge and skills," says Barlow, whose professional experience includes 22 years in education as a high school teacher, superintendent of schools, and college administrator. In addition, he was CEO of a medical center and senior associate with a management consulting firm. For workers in 2008, half of their job-related knowledge and skills will become obsolete in 12 to 15 years. Yet for the next generation of workers, Barlow remarks, half of their work-related knowledge and skills will become obsolete in 30-to-36 months. This would be the case for those next-generation individuals who seek situations in which they are sufficiently employable because they have acquired the skills to add value to an employer's enterprise. When considering Barlow's recommendations and comments, an important point to keep in mind is his frame of reference: He continuously studies economic, social, cultural, technological, demographic and other factors from nations across the globe, and he reads or talks with other authors and experts who have weighed these issues, as well. Moreover, he provides written source material to support major points of his presenta- tion, and he urges listeners to research these topics. Turning to the topic of retraining and continuing education for adults, Barlow remarks that 70 percent of American adults dislocated during structural changes never return to the same level of income, with most of them earning 30 percent less than before disloca- tion. "I can showcase that in Michigan." To adapt to global changes, an important competency for individuals and communities has become an ability — and desire — to look ahead. "Individually, as a worker, what do I need to do — to keep myself employed," Barlow says. "If I'm an employer, and I see on your resume that you tell me about the skills you have, and how the skills you have will help me — not the degree but the skills. If I can see on your resume that you've built a mental desktop, and you've taken speed learning, and you have a commitment to continuous learning — guess who's going to the top of the pile?" Employers will move into their top-tier that candidate "who can demonstrate they're a continuous learner and understand they need to keep themselves employable," he notes. "That resume in the future for a worker is going to the top of the pile!" The whole process of anticipatory thinking is a key trait for individuals and communities to nurture in order to deal with a future that "isn't bad — it's just different," Barlow explains. "Number one, you have to formally bring information in through traditional research to your learning; and then number two, you rekindle a God-given gift called intuition." INTUITION: THAT 'AH-HAH' MOMENT When Suddenly Things Make Sense "Intuition is that 'ah-hah' you get at three o'clock in the morning when all of a sudden things make sense." In addition, "intuition works best when its fed real-time, future-focused, accurate information," Barlow states, noting that everyone should establish their own "mental desktop" to conduct this process. A mental desktop involves the following aspects: people you talk to who provide you with good information; printed publications that you read as soon as they're on the street; and virtual places you visit online. For instance, Indiana attempted to predict the future of the Hispanic population a few years ago yet analyzed five-year-old data to do so. "That's why it missed," Barlow says. "Yet intuitively, you could walk around and look — and think — 'There's a lot more Hispanics here, right, so now we have to deal with the fact they are in our workforce." For the most part, global forces causing such unprecedented structural changes are outside the control of most individuals in Northern Indiana's workforce. But the heartening, good news in Barlow's message is that adaptation mechanisms aiming to empower Hoosiers to succeed in the new structures — namely lifelong learning, a mental desktop, planning strategically and intuition — are entirely within each person's control.

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